Public Accounts Committee on Nov. 25th, 2024

[Zoë Kolbuc]

Can you repeat the question?

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

What has been your involvement with the federal Conservative Party over these past number of years?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

I haven't been involved actively in federal Conservative politics recently, but I was on constituency association boards many years ago supporting politicians. I was a big supporter of the late honourable Jim Prentice. He was an honourable man whom I'm very proud to have known.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Thank you very much for sharing that.

In your testimony, you talked about eligibility requirements being reviewed by staff.

Who overlooked that staff, and what were the criteria and the management policies around it?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

There would have been a director who would oversee the staff who were ensuring that the seed funding companies met the eligibility criteria that we had in place. I'm sorry that I don't have a list of all of the eligibility criteria, but I can speak to them at a level. Determining that the project had the potential to deliver an environmental benefit, which is a very important part of our mandate—

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

I'm sorry. I'll stop you there and would request that you perhaps submit that list to us in writing. We'd really appreciate that.

With respect to any of the eligibility criteria, were any ministers involved in that decision-making?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

No, there was no ministerial involvement in the decision-making.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

With respect specifically to these applications, what safeguards were in place at SDTC to prevent conflicts of interest during your leadership specifically?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

Every month, a full list of all companies that SDTC was funding was sent out to all staff members. Staff members were required to review that list and to declare any potential perceived or real conflicts of interest that they had, and then those conflicts would be managed appropriately.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

According to the RCGT report, deliberations and conclusions about conflicts were not documented prior to 2023. Why was that, and have you ever worked for an organization that didn't have that kind of documented process?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

The Auditor General and RCGT highlighted some gaps within the conflict of interest policies that SDTC had. There were a number of recommendations that were put forward. All of those recommendations have been accepted and have been put in place.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Who made the decision not to document these deliberations?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

The ultimate responsibility for the management of conflict of interest was under the former CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Is that Leah Lawrence?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

That would have been the CEO prior to 2023.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Thank you.

Who do you think should be responsible for making sure that these are properly documented? Clearly, it wasn't a priority for you or your CEO at the time, but do you think that it should be a priority? What would you suggest as a mechanism to make sure that we're taking our taxpayer dollars very seriously in terms of how they're being allocated?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

One of the ways SDTC strengthened its conflict of interest practices was to hire an independent ethics adviser. That independent ethics adviser is available for staff as well as for board members to be able to disclose conflicts and to adjudicate conflicts.

As well, there is a registry of all the conflicts, maintained and available publicly, for all staff. I think that's a really important recommendation that was implemented. It certainly would have been very helpful if we'd had that previously.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Do I have time for one more quick question, Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

If it's very brief, yes, you do.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

It will be very brief.

What will your role be post the transition?

[Zoë Kolbuc]

I will not be transitioning to the National Research Council.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you.

Ms. Sinclair‑Desgagné, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Kolbuc, I am going to continue in the same vein as my previous questions.

The Department of Innovation, Science and Industry says there were several warnings regarding the fact that the fund was not compatible with the seed stream and the ecosystem stream under the terms of the contribution agreement. In fact, that is stated in the auditor general's report.

You were the director; you selected the projects to fund. How can you explain the fact that you simply decided to ignore the reservations stated by the Department of Innovation, Science and Industry, even though it is your funder?